Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Adam LE Gray will represent Hastings-Lennox and Addington’s newest party, the People’s Party of Canada in the Oct. 21 federal election.
Gray wore many hats before throwing his into the ring.
“I started out at Tim Horton’s as a baker at 18-years-old,” said Gray. “That helped out with the work ethic. Every job matters. I played hockey overseas, I received a pay cheque for that. In the important jobs I was a residential supervisor at a private boarding school for child and youth, so I understand a little bit of what teenagers are going through. That’ll help with policies for social services, mainly provincial, but there’s a little bit of federal in it. I worked in oil and gas. I know how they’re struggling out there. I know how they’re doing the best they can environmentally. It’s not like it used to be back in the ‘80s and 90s where there were bad chemicals, they’ve changed it up, it’s a lot better, it’s a lot cleaner, it’s a lot more efficient now. I want to help them build a pipeline.”
His current job is as a long haul trucker, which he says gives him insight into Canada-U.S. relations.
“I want to make sure that we’re able to move more products across the border without tariffs, without fighting, keep on our integration with American and make sure that we’re all prosperous,” said Gray.
A one time Conservative, he said he didn’t like the direction Andrew Scheer was taking the party.
“I was sick and tired of how everything was going,” said Gray on why he decided to run. “I complained a lot. My wife told me to do something or stop complaining. So I decided to do something.”
“The carbon tax is the biggest one,” Gray said when asked about the biggest issue in Hastings-Lennox and Addington. “Everybody pays. We all have to travel, we all have to heat our homes. (The PPC) are the only ones that are going to have no carbon tax whatsoever. No tax on industry. No tax on corporation, no tax on people. But we are going to invest in technology to clean the air, clean the water. We’re going to support provinces and territories if they choose to have the carbon tax, which we feel is a provincial jurisdiction, not a federal jurisdiction.”
“The second (biggest issue) is immigration,” he added. “We want to lower the number to what we call sustainable immigration. It doesn’t mean we’re anti-immigration. We’re not, at all. We want to make sure the immigrants that are coming have every chance of success. We want to make sure we have the services in place so that they’re able to be successful. My wife is an immigrant, so I know how it is, how hard it is.”
Gray says the PPC plans to clear Canada’s backlog of immigrants and invest in infrastructure, but first it has to scaled back so they can improve it.
“Everyone needs more money,” Gray says as the third biggest issue. “We’re going to reform the whole tax system. Zero to $15,000 is zero per cent (tax). $15,000-$100,000 is 15 per cent flat tax. Anything over $100,000 is 25 per cent flat tax. There’s only two tax brackets. How we’re going to pay for it, we’re going to cut foreign aid to foreign countries, we’re going to defund the CBC and we’re going to get rid of all corporatism, all corporate welfare. We will not be helping Bombardier, we will not be helping GM. That there alone gives you between $16 billion and $24 billion.”
When talking to residents in the riding, he says affordability and tax reform are the topics on most people’s minds.
“We want you to have more so you can do what you need to do with it, because we can’t spend the money as well as you can,” said Gray.
If elected, he plans to meet with local elected officials at all levels.
“My first priority would be going around and speaking to every mayor, that’s the most important thing for me,” said Gray. “I’ve spoken with a couple of them. They’re very similar. Housing, remove red tape, stuff like that. I need to reach out to every mayor and see what they need from me. I need to go see MPP (Daryl) Kramp and see what he needs from me. Then I’ll need to speak with Mr. (Mike) Bossio (the current MP of the riding) and see what he’s working on so I can carry on what he’s been working on so that nobody gets left behind in the change over and that we can keep going forward.”